


Feet on the Path

by nayanroo



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AOU spoilers, F/M, movie date, waves from the rabbit hole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 00:36:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3916594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nayanroo/pseuds/nayanroo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She had enough of ifs and maybes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feet on the Path

**Author's Note:**

> So this is kind of a sequel to Welcome Distractions, but you don't really have to read it before you read this, it'll be just as cute regardless.
> 
> Also I don't know if Clint's kids besides Nathaniel had names, sooooo I don't know if his daughter's name is right. But here we are anyway.

“ _So how're things going there? m'I missin' much?_ ”

“Not really. Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff keep us very busy with our training, and because of this I have learned much more about my own abilities.” Wanda tucked her phone (a luxury she'd never _dreamed_ of before) between her shoulder and ear as she dressed. “We have been on a few missions, learning to work together. It is... quite different.”

“ _I've seen you guys on TV a few times, you look good. I'm gonna have to give Sam hell about his antics—hang on a minute._ ” She heard muffled shouting in the background ( _put that down, Liz, that is not a toy!_ ) and smiled. At first she had been confused as to why Clint had kept his parental interest in her after she felt she'd successfully established herself, but she saw now it was only in his nature. He had once been alone and adrift, and felt a special kinship with those who were in the same position.

“ _Anyway,_ ” Clint continued, once he'd put a stop to whatever his children were doing, “ _I'm glad you're doin' well, Wanda, I really am. Now, what's this I hear about you takin' up with that android?_ ”

She felt her face heat up. “There is nothing. Who told you there was something?”

“ _Nat said there's been canoodling._ ”

“How did _she_ find out?” To her memory the grounds had been deserted when she'd gone on her little evening flight with Vision, and she remembered that time _very_ clearly.

“ _She knows everything. So you and Vision, huh?_ ”

“No, nothing like that. We are teammates. We haven't really... no. We are very busy.”

That was a lie, and she knew Clint knew it. “ _Uh-huh,_ ” he said. “ _Well, just don't wait too long. I've gotta go, but... listen, have you ever seen_ Star Wars?”

“Sokovia was war-torn, not _backwards_.” Wanda huffed into the phone. “But it has been a long time.”

“ _Travesty_ ,” Clint muttered. “ _Well, I found out it's showing in that town near the facility. Got a couple tickets, but obviously I can't use 'em. Figured I've give 'em to you._ ”

“Oh, Clint, no—“

“ _No, I want them to go to someone who'll appreciate them. Go have fun, okay, Wanda? Whether or not you go with your mandroid boyfriend._ ”

“He is not my—“

“ _Well, go have fun anyway, okay?_ ”

“I will. Thank you, Clint. I don't deserve this.”

“ _Sure you do. Take care, Wanda._ ”

“You too.” She hung up and let her phone drop into her lap, then put her head in her hands. It wasn't that she didn't want to pursue her feelings, but every time she thought about it, hot guilt crept into her mind and her throat and her heart, guilt that she could not protect Pietro the way he protected her. How could she allow herself the luxury when her own twin would never have that chance? Every time she tried to move in closer, those thoughts pulled her back. Vision had been respectful of her, though she caught a flicker of confusion every so often, and she had no idea how to tell him how much she appreciated it and that she hadn't lied when she'd said she'd wanted to be _distracted_ further. But they were distractions, and she had a job to do.

_Would Pietro want me to think this way?_ Wanda mused as she pulled on the rest of her clothing, the comfortable layer next to her skin and the more durable outer layer designed to protect her in a fight. Her phone chimed – an email from Clint, she saw, with the tickets attached. Maybe it had nothing to do with guilt and everything to do with a fear of rejection, though she had no doubt that if she but _asked_ Vision to go to the movies with her he'd accept without a second thought. Maybe _that_ terrified her too, even though she'd only felt a heady rush of elation when they'd flown together.

Frustrated, Wanda clenched her fists and willed it all away as she finished her preparations. They had a briefing and then a mission, and she would be prepared for it.

*

The quinjet always felt much larger to her. Perhaps because the first time she'd been in it there had been many more people, or because the one person she wanted beside her was gone now, but in the company of the people she was with Wanda occasionally felt rather small.

Vision sat a seat away from her, and she peered at him out of the corner of her eye. Wanda had learned to block out of the thoughts of others around her quickly after gaining her powers – the whisper of so many thoughts would have driven her mad otherwise – but she still got impressions from those around her. Captain Rogers was always focused, Sam Wilson's mind a swirl of metal wings and the deep darkness he rarely acknowledged, and Vision... he was a calm bay at nighttime. If she could only just...

He looked over at her and Wanda quickly looked away. That kind of serenity was not something she had known for many years, and she was not sure it was something she had earned yet.

“Wanda?”

Of _course_ this would happen. She drew in a breath through her nose, just like the doctors at the Avengers facility had taught her, and looked back over. “Yes, Vision?”

“Is everything all right? You seemed...” he thought a moment. “Unsettled.”

“I'm fine. Just... I am lost in my thoughts, that is all.”

“Very well.”

He sat back and those damn butterflies wouldn't go away, and Wanda thought about the tickets in her e-mail and how it had felt to grasp Vision's hands in hers as they rose into the sky and the way she knew, _knew_ without even having to peek that he wanted nothing but her happiness, that she could even _trust_ that thought in the first place without any second-guessing. Acting on that first connection she had made when he was yet in the Cradle had seemed a natural thing.

Maybe she was overthinking things _now?_ Maybe all her heartache came from trying to fight something that had been destined from the beginning. Maybe, maybe...

Maybe she ought to stop thinking backward and start going forward. Pulling her phone out of a pocket, Wanda gripped it to keep her hand from shaking. “Vision?”

He looked at her again and she _would not blush,_ absolutely _refused_ to—

“Yes, Wanda?”

She looked down at her phone, opened her mouth—and the jet rocked, throwing her against her restraints hard. Her phone flew out of her hand, and as soon as things stabilized she released her restraints and snatched it up, tucking it away. “What's going on?”

Captain Rogers had made his way forward, conversing with Agent Romanoff. The jet rocked again and Wanda tightened her grip on the strap she was holding onto. “We're taking fire from the base below us! We can't make our drop point—ugh—“ 

Romanoff stood the jet up on its afterburners to avoid a blast, then whipped it around and jammed it forward so quickly they were all flung backward again. Wind filled the jet as the ramp lowered.

“Jump out here!” Rogers yelled from the cockpit. “Rendezvous inside!”

There was a mad scramble as Rhodes and Sam left first, but as she often did Wanda hesitated on the brink. She had perfected her flight, and yet...

There was the shock of an explosion and the jet rocked, and instead of gracefully sweeping off the ramp, Wanda stumbled, caught her foot on one of the equipment hooks, and tumbled off. There was a sharp pain in her ankle but she couldn't think about it, focused instead on righting herself and not flying into the ground at top speed. Red light swirled around her, slowing her descent; wind still rushed past her ears but she had control back now. Weaving between mortars flying up at her from the base below, Wanda arrowed toward the ground, flinging her hands in front of her at the last moment so her landing was light and easy.

The gunfire started immediately but she was ready, throwing up a force-field and pushing it in front of her as she ran for the cover of a vehicle, diving sideways at the last minute to reach it as a rocket went streaking past her. Somewhere up above, the whine of the quinjet's engines faded as Agent Romanoff took it off to land somewhere safe, but the chatter of gunfire and the blasting didn't stop.

_This was supposed to be simple,_ Wanda thought to herself. But given that there were no new weapons being made with the power of the Stone, those that continued to exist were in high demand. Of course those who held them would not want to let them go. But she set her jaw and stood, red globes of energy shooting out of her hands. They struck the mercenaries running toward her position and without mercy she killed them, imagining that each one was Ultron, its horrible metal fingers on the controls as it killed her brother, her twin...

Then they were all gone and she was running from cover to cover, clearing her path, heading for the door on the side of the base when an explosion knocked her off her feet. Stunned, Wanda managed to turn over, rubble pattering off her stiff outer layer of clothing, only to come face to face with the barrel of a rifle, a far too familiar blue glow coming off it.

“One of the new ones,” the mercenary said in accented English, a grin spreading across his face as he pushed blonde hair out of his eyes. “Killing you will still cause an upr—huh?”

The rifle he'd been holding now had an arm through it where it hadn't before. In his hand the Vision held the rifle's magazine. Wanda used the distraction to reach into the mercenary's mind, pulling out his fears and showing them to him one by one, infused with her own anger.

“I think you may have overdone it,” Vision observed as they ran across the tarmac away from the now-catatonic mercenary.

“Well, he _was_ going to kill me.”

“A fair point.”

The fight continued on for hours, it seemed, but when she was escorting a group of mercenaries over to where they'd be processed and taken to where they'd be incarcerated, Wanda realized it had been only an hour since she'd tumbled out of the jet. Her ankle was throbbing and her boot felt tight, which couldn't possibly mean anything good. Gritting her teeth, she waited until the Avengers support staff had taken charge of her group before heading toward the team quinjet, her limp becoming more and more pronounced and all the scrapes and burns she'd acquired starting to sting in the air. Dropping into one of the seats, Wanda took a deep breath, then tried to bring her leg up so she could pull off her boot. Pain put a stop to that, and she let her foot drop slowly to the floor again, breathing hard.

“Here, let me.”

Surprised, Wanda watched Vision kneel before her, his cape spreading out behind him, and very gently pull the boot off her foot. Her ankle _was_ swollen and bruised, and when she tried to stand to get over to the medical suite, the pain was so intense that she saw white and sat down again heavily. She tried again and found hands lifting her gently, supporting her for the few steps over to the stretcher. “I could have done it,” she grumbled, but when Vision looked up to see if she was truly upset she smiled at him. His lips twitched just a bit.

“I am certain you could have. However, in the interest of ensuring that everyone on the team is able to fully perform, I thought it best to minimize the chance of exacerbating your injury.”

She watched him wrap up her ankle, her thoughts whirling until she couldn't take it anymore. Her mind was unsettled, and even a cursory glance could tell her that Vision's mind was not as tranquil as usual. _Damn it all,_ she thought to herself. She would deal with the guilt when it came, but... “Is that the only reason you have for it?”

He tucked the end of the bandage in, but his fingers rested on her leg instead of moving away. “I admit that I have fondness for you,” he replied after a moment. “Rather a lot.”

“Is that so?”

“I have not acted upon it because it seemed to me that you would not want it, and I would not do anything you would not want me to.”

“Then you are more considerate than most men already.”

“It seemed the only appropriate course of action.” Vision paused. “Forgive me for asking, Wanda, but it did seem to me that before, you desired some kind of liaison between us. You sought me out for companionship, you...ah, we...”

“Kissed. I cannot forget it.”

“Neither can I. But since then...”

“I know.” And before she could think about it, the words were tumbling out of Wanda's mouth. “Clint has given me tickets to see _Star Wars_. I seem to remember that it was on your list?”

“While I recall it, certainly, I have never experienced it myself, and certainly it would not be the same as seeing clips through a mental connection to the Internet.” He hesitated, then continued, a little unsure. “Nor would it be the same without your company.”

Wanda couldn't help it; she smiled, and the butterflies in her stomach seemed to lift her heart just a bit, almost as if to say _You are not off the path, but you have made a step toward its end_ , and very carefully, she put her hand on top his where it rested on the stretcher. “Then come with me, Vision, and we will see it together.”

*

New York City was a short flight away but not short enough that they could simply make the trip for the movie alone. So Wanda got recommendations for food from Steve and a few other things from Natasha (who had seemed inordinately pleased about the fact she was going on a date with Vision, but also not surprised by it, and Wanda made a mental note to ask where she'd been to see them the first time) and put on something other than the athletic clothing she usually wore around the training facility.

The best part of the night, she had to admit as they walked out of the theater after the movie, was seeing Vision in normal, human clothing. He had told Wanda he'd been advised to try to blend in more, but as they turned a corner and stepped onto the brick of a waterfront path, she caught him shifting back into his usual garb and grinned.

“This I like better,” she said, resting her hand on his arm and then, feeling giddy, tucking her hand round his elbow. “Did you enjoy the movie?”

“It is far better to see it with my own eyes than reassemble it from vague memories.” She felt Vision's fingers slip against hers on his arm, and caught them. “And it is good to see you enjoy yourself too.”

“I enjoy myself all the time. Believe me, even the training is better than most of the last ten years of my life.”

“But you have been sad. Is it because of your—no, forgive me, it is rude to ask.”

“No, it isn't.” Wanda drew in a breath and led them over to a small overlook off the main path. A few feet down the water lapped at the rocks, and boats moved out on the river, but it seemed to be just them. “I do miss Pietro. We were together for so long, us against the world, and now... now I am alone. There are people around me, but nobody so close to me as my own twin brother.”

“I wish I had known him for longer.”

“I wish you had, too.”

“Would he object to... this?”

“No,” Wanda said without having to think about it, surprising herself. But it made sense. “He would want me to be happy. And I am.”

“Good. That is all I want for you as well, Wanda.”

Hearing that made her heart ache, just a bit. She had done something most people would never have thought about in pursuit of her revenge, and now she worked with the same man she had once wanted to kill, the man who had, in a roundabout way, created a being—a man—she had become very fond of.

“Why?” she asked, looking up at Vision. “Why are you fond of me?”

He paused, seeming to organize his thoughts, then nodded. “I remembered you touching my mind in the Cradle, before I... before I was. I remembered the way you fought as Sokovia rose into the sky, your desire to right your wrongs, the resilience in you even now, your dedication and bravery. And I think... you saw me before anyone else did. As alive, I mean. I am still not sure everyone does, but you I am certain of. It is a good thing, to be thought of as alive. There is a show that I have been watching, it is called _Star Trek_ , and—“

Wanda grabbed his face and kissed him, and felt a little loosening in her chest. Just like that it was that evening a month before and she felt light, just like she was flying, and it was such a blessed relief. When they finally broke apart, she rested her fingertips on his jaw and pressed their foreheads together.

“I see,” Vision said after a moment, “That my tangent was not needed. Wanda...”

“I want this. I do.” She pressed her fingertips to his lips. “If you do, too.”

“That would make me very happy.”

“That,” she said, slipping her arm back through his, “Is something we both deserve, I think.”

They continued walking, though this time she could not keep the smile off her face. It felt good, she thought. It felt like she was honoring Pietro's memory. She would never stop grieving him, but she would move on. 

“Do you suppose that the media library at the Avengers facility has the next two films?” Vision asked after a moment. “I think we ought to finish the story, don't you?”

She thought about a darkened room and a comfortable couch and good company, and her smile widened. She had enough of ifs and maybes; it was time for something certain. “I think you may be able to read my mind. But let us stay out a while longer, my Vision. I want to keep you all to myself.”


End file.
